Adventures in jogging shirtless
by MiriRainbowitz
Summary: Based on the prompt "You jog shirtless past my house every morning". NB- I might continue this, if I'm ever so inclined.


There were times when Felicity wasn't sure why she hadn't moved to another apartment. The apartment itself was kind of small, there was a lingering smell from the previous tenant that refused to leave no matter what she did, the couple next door had loud arguments or loud sex (sometimes both) almost every night, and although it had been the nicest apartment she could afford on her salary from Tech Village, her current job in the IT department at Queen Consolidated meant a much larger paycheck. Besides, the apartment had been within walking distance of her old job, but not so much with QC.

Then again, there were some perks. It was in a fairly low-crime area, Mrs. Ragnell had kind of adopted her as a grandchild and often gave her really delicious food, there was a lovely little coffee shop nearby, and pets were allowed, so she could keep Gizmo, her cat. Oh, and there was the shirtless jogger.

Felicity was not a morning person- interacting with people before she'd had at least one cup of coffee was never a good idea for her- but a few months ago, she'd happened to go outside at about 7 and had seen this _incredibly_ hot man jogging by, completely shirtless. She'd realized a few seconds after he'd jogged past that she was actually gaping, and hurried back inside her apartment before anyone could see her.

The next morning, she'd gotten up at around the same time as she had the previous day, then actually went outside ten minutes earlier. When she'd almost started to give up hope and go back inside- it was kind of chilly- she'd seen him again, and yep, he was still as hot and gloriously shirtless as yesterday.

From then, it developed into a habit, and before long, Felicity found herself wondering about the jogger. Who was he? Did he have a family? Why did he jog the same route every morning? Why did he never wear a shirt? (Not that she was complaining about his shirtlessness).

Even as she asked herself these questions, she knew they'd never get answered. She only saw him when he was jogging, and it wasn't like she'd seen him stop or anything. Besides, she'd lived in Starling City for a few months now, and she'd never run into him anywhere else, so the chances that she'd meet him now were extremely low. Felicity didn't like mysteries- and shirtless jogger was one hell of a mystery- but she'd just have to accept that she wouldn't be able to solve this one.

* * *

Felicity sighed in contentment- she had a mug of coffee in her hand, she had the day off, the sunrise was actually quite nice, and shirtless jogger had just rounded the corner, right on schedule. Today was looking pretty good.

Felicity was so busy ogling shirtless jogger that she didn't even realize that Gizmo had gotten out and was dashing towards the street. "Gizmo!" Felicity shouted as she jumped out of her seat, barely managing to avoid spilling her coffee, but Gizmo ignored her. The hot jogger, however, apparently heard her yell, because his head turned to look at her.

Naturally, that was the moment that Gizmo chose to run into the street- _right_ in front of the jogger. Felicity wasn't entirely sure what happened next, but when she got to the street, Gizmo was standing a few feet away from the jogger, who was pushing himself off the ground.

Felicity quickly scooped up Gizmo, who made a noise of protest as Felicity checked her for any injuries. Fortunately, Gizmo was almost completely unscathed, and Felicity turned her attention to the jogger.

"Oh my god, you're bleeding," was the first thing that came out of her mouth at the sight of his skinned knee. "I'm so sorry- I forgot to close the door and I didn't notice Gizmo get out until it was too late, and- you should come inside. Because I have bandaids. And some antiseptic."

"I'll be fine," the guy said (and wow, he just _had_ to have a really nice voice too). He held out his hand, as if to brush off her little babble/request, but Felicity was more concerned about his scraped palms.

Something rose inside Felicity, putting a little steel into her spine, and she replied, "Absolutely not. You've got a skinned knee and scraped palms, and I don't know how much longer your jogging route is, but I'm willing to bet you've got a ways to go before you'll be able to clean those up by yourself. Besides, it's kind of my fault that you're even injured in the first place, so it'll make me feel better if I help you."

"Well, in that case, feel free to patch me up," the guy said with a small smile, and Felicity quickly turned back towards her apartment to hide the blush on her face. It wasn't fair- he was already really hot, and up close, his face was devastatingly attractive.

After he'd entered the apartment, she closed the door and put Gizmo down. "Um- the kitchen's through here," she said as she headed into the kitchen. "A lot of my medical supplies are in here, because I tend to have a lot of accidents in here." She opened the drawer and pulled out the medical basket and turned around, only to see the guy's really impressive chest standing very close to her.

Felicity's thoughts were a jumbled mess, but thankfully, all that came out out of her mouth was a squeak. "Um...you're in- my space," she eventually said, and the guy backed up. She held out the basket, and asked, "Do you want me to do you?" A second later, Felicity realized what she'd said, and continued, "And when I say 'do you', I didn't mean _do you_ , as in have sex with you, I meant clean up your knee and hands. Not that I wouldn't mind having sex with you, because you're really really hot, but- gah! This is why I shouldn't interact with humans before I've finished my first cup of coffee." She looked down. "On second thought, you can do this yourself- I'm gonna go lock myself into my bathroom until you leave."

Before Felicity could actually move, however, she heard the guy chuckle, and she looked back up to see that instead of being horrified or disgusted by her ramble, he actually looked amused. "How about a compromise?" he said after a few seconds. "Instead of hiding, you just go and drink your coffee and I'll get myself cleaned up?"

Felicity was kind of shocked. "That- works too," she said. "So I'll just-" she motioned towards the living room. "Yeah." She held out the basket, which the guy took, then started to leave the kitchen. "Oh- and, sorry, what's your name? I mean, I've mentally been referring to you as "Shirtless Jogger" for months now, but that's obviously not your real name-"

"I'm Oliver," he interrupted. "And you are…"

"Felicity," she replied. "I'd say 'nice to meet you', but…"

To her surprise, Oliver actually started to grin while she was talking. "Nice to meet you, Felicity," he said, and Felicity could only nod in reply before she hurried out of the kitchen.

As she walked into the living room, Felicity caught sight of herself in the mirror and barely suppressed a groan. She looked like a mess- her hair was frizzy and unbrushed, she didn't have any makeup on, and she was wearing a tank top and llama-patterned pajama pants. Maybe she _should_ just go and hide in the bathroom.

"Felicity, are you okay?" Oliver called from the kitchen, and Felicity decided that she really liked the way he said her name. Then she realized that she might not have suppressed her groan as well as she thought.

"I'm fine," replied, and walked over to the couch. Hey- if Oliver hadn't run off screaming at her appearance at this point, there was no reason to hide in the bathroom.

She stared absently at the pile of computer parts on her coffee table- she'd been planning on doing some work on them today- and as such didn't notice Oliver come into the room until he tapped her on the shoulder, which caused Felicity to jump a bit.

"Don't you make _noise_ when you move?" she exclaimed, and saw Oliver's face fall minutely. "I'm sorry- you just startled me."

"It's fine," he replied. "Anyway, I'm all done, and I put everything away."

"Thank you," Felicity said. "So, I guess you're gonna get back to your jogging?"

Oliver hesitated. "Actually…" he trailed off, shifting uncertainly. "I was wondering- well, there's this really great coffee shop near here, and, um...would you like to get coffee with me? There?"

It took Felicity a few seconds to comprehend what Oliver was asking. "You're shirtless," she said, then shook her head. "I mean, I'm not complaining, but I think they might not let you in without a shirt."

"Oh. Yeah," he replied, huffing out a breath. "I don't suppose you have any shirts that would fit me?"

"Well... if you don't mind people seeing you in a Starfleet Academy t-shirt, we're good," Felicity said. When Oliver replied that he didn't mind, Felicity said, "I'll go get that for you then. And try to make myself look less like I just rolled out of bed."

Felicity got herself dressed in record time, then grabbed the t-shirt and went back to the living room. "Here you go," she said, handing the shirt to Oliver, and couldn't look away from Oliver's muscles moving and flexing as he put on the shirt. How was it possible for someone to be so attractive?

* * *

"...and then we- oh, I'm sorry, hold on a second," Oliver said, and pulled his phone out of his shorts. He winced for a second when he saw the screen, then brought the phone to his ear. "Hey, Thea," he said, his voice sounding a bit nervous.

Felicity looked down at her watch, and jumped a bit in shock. It was almost 10- apparently, she and Oliver had spent over two hours talking to each other. It was a bit surprising- Felicity wasn't all that great at socializing- but there was just _something_ about Oliver. As she looked around the coffee shop, she realized that there were a lot more people than when they'd come in- she'd apparently been too wrapped up in her conversation with Oliver to notice.

Across the table, Oliver winced, and Felicity didn't blame him. Thea- whoever she was- seemed to be scolding Oliver, and Felicity wondered for a second who exactly Thea was. _Wait. What if she was Oliver's girlfriend?_

"Hey, Thea. Thea!" Oliver said. "I'm _fine_ , okay? I'm at a coffee shop with Felicity." As soon as he said that, a series of emotions flashed across his face, too fast for Felicity to determine.

"She's a _friend_ ," Oliver said after a few seconds. "We met this morning. Speedy- I tripped, she helped me clean myself up, we went out for coffee. I'll be home in a bit, okay?" His face softened at something. "And I love you. Bye." He put the phone away.

"Is Thea your girlfriend?" Felicity asked.

" _No_ , she's my younger sister," Oliver quickly replied, and Felicity felt oddly relieved by his answer. "I'm usually home by now, and she got worried."

"I get it," Felicity said. "Even though I don't have any younger siblings. Or older siblings. But I get why she'd be worried. And, to be fair, I wouldn't have kept you this long, but I didn't even realize what time it was until just now. Being with you is very distracting- I mean, _talking_. With you. Not _being_ with you. Wow, my brain-to-mouth filter is really not working today."

Oliver smiled. "It's fine," he replied. "You're equally as distracting to me, too."

Felicity blushed a bit at Oliver's statement. He'd been kind of flirting with her almost the whole time they were talking- you'd think she would have gotten a bit used to it, but no, her body insisted on reacting the exact same way every time he did it.

"Anyway, you should probably still get going," Felicity said, then giggled when she saw Oliver actually _pout_ at her. "Not that I'm trying to get rid of you, but you probably have work or something, and I _definitely_ have to go home and feed Gizmo."

Oliver stood up. "I actually don't have to go to work until tonight- I own a nightclub," he said. "And before you go, could you give me your phone? I'd like to talk with you some more." He smiled widely, and before she realized what she was doing, Felicity had unlocked her phone and handed it to him. After a minute, Oliver handed her phone back to her.

"I'll see you soon?" he asked, and his expression was so hopeful that Felicity could only nod. Oliver grinned in response, then left.

Felicity had to take a minute to gather herself, then got up and started to head home. Once she got back and put some food in Gizmo's bowl, she pulled out her phone to text Oliver.

When she got to his contact, she smiled a bit- he'd taken a photo of himself, visibly wearing her Starfleet Academy t-shirt, and _oh_ , he hadn't given it back to her. She quickly typed _You stole my t-shirt_ , then pressed send.

She realized that he actually didn't have her number, so she quickly typed out _This is Felicity, in case you couldn't tell._

Her phone buzzed a few seconds later. _Sorry. I'll drop it off tomorrow?_ Felicity snorted- of course he'd still be going jogging tomorrow- but then she saw that his contact included his last name, and her jaw dropped. Had she seriously just spent the last two hours talking with _Oliver Queen_?

She wanted to confront him- but she couldn't, she didn't know where he was, and she didn't really want to call him. After some deliberation, she sent him a text that said _Any reason you didn't tell me your last name, Mr. Queen?_

A few seconds later, her phone started to ring, and she saw Oliver's picture on her screen. She was going to hit the ignore button, but apparently her body had other plans- she'd picked up and brought the phone to her ear.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Oliver said immediately. "It's just- I go jogging in your neighborhood because it's kind of incognito- no one knows who I am- and this morning- I really like you- and talking to you, and it would have been different if I was _Oliver Queen_ , not Oliver the jogger. I wasn't- I didn't intend on lying to you, Felicity."

Felicity tried holding on to her irritation, but hearing the worry and sincerity in Oliver's voice made it melt away. "That's- I understand," she replied. "It was just a bit of a shock to find out that I went on a date with my CEO's son. And- I didn't mean to say _date_ , because it was just coffee. Platonic coffee."

"I would have considered it a date if you'd let me pay for coffee," Oliver replied, and yep, there was that blush again.

"Maybe next time," Felicity said teasingly.

"Okay," Oliver replied, and Felicity was glad she was alone, because she was probably gaping like a fish. "How about Saturday night?" When Felicity said nothing, he continued, "I wasn't kidding when I said I like you, Felicity. There's just- something about you."

"Saturday night's good," Felicity eventually replied.

"Good, that's good," Oliver said. "I'll talk to you later, Felicity."

"Bye, Oliver," Felicity replied, then hung up the phone before a grin spread over her face. If the rest of her day was anything like her morning so far, her day wasn't going to be "pretty good"- it was going to be _awesome_.


End file.
